Absolute Poker is rigged... no seriously

[de-coder]

This seems to mostly stem from some anecdotal "evidence", a few HH's and a PT screenshot.

There's a player that has some pretty strange numbers over a 500 hand sample (from the screenshot). The basis for condemnation here is that over this sample the guy is way ahead, playing a lot of hands and has a river AF of infinity (which means that he never calls a river bet - at least that's what's been posted).

The anecdotal evidence along with the HH's seem to indicate that he always folds the river when behind and bets/raises when ahead including some really strange calls (but why else would they be posted). I don't think it's anything a really bad wouldn't do and the play on the other side sucks too - so...

It's unclear as to whether the player in question is actually seif or not. Seif is mentioned in the early posts, but then never again. Personally I find it hard to believe that any poker pro would be stupid enough to cheat in an obvious fashion. I have no doubt that many would cheat if they could, but I think they're smart enough to be subtle about it.

As for the rest of it - I see no real proof that anything nefarious is going on. Further, there's definitely no evidence that the site itself is at fault or that it's been hacked or has a backdoor to allow someone to see all the hole cards. There may be suspicious behaviour here, but it could just be some nut running good or perhaps his opponents have downloaded some kind of virus that allows him to see their cards (this is perhaps more plausible than the site having a backdoor that was hacked).

The only final weird thing that I just saw is this:

potripper's pokerdb:
Date Buyin Tournament/Event Place Entrants Winnings
9/12/2007 $1,000 NL Hold'em 1 98 $30,000.00
7/5/2007 $5 NL Hold'em 234 234 —
7/5/2007 $50 NL Hold'em 140 148 —

That's pretty strange, of course I can't verify that anything I've read is actually true at all.

I think the hype level went way up this because 2+2 moved the original thread to the mod forum so no one could see it - I think they've released all the posts by now though.

I got most of this information from the FCP forum which is outquoting sections of the 2+2 thread.

[Talking Poker]

ty de-coder. +Rep for the summary.

[Wes]

de-coder's summary isn't very accurate. doesn't seem like he read the entire thread, or in that fact any of the hands. Just read this post, and ask yourself if you think there isn't anything up.

[Wes]

And read this thread in the high stakes limit forum

[melioris]

to avoid scandal I will ask a somewhat muddled question. I skimmed these threads and didn't see this stated, so I ask is the named pro from the internettexasholdem link in the OP thought to be the person behind the suspicious accounts named in the 2+2 threads?

[melioris]

btw I think the most damning bit of evidence was stated by someone I am too lazy to refind and link. But the point was that the high stakes limit forums are filled with conspiracy threads and each one of them has been shot down immediately. This appears to be the first one that has legs and no valid detractors other than "meh just a lucky fish I guess".

Second most damning bit of evidence (granted, from several different small samples-maybe >3k hands total), AF per street for these players (who run something like 70/55 preflop, SD maybe 35% and W$SD +60%-those stats being the third most damning evidence) is 3/3/>20, like they never, ever, call the river.

[Talking Poker]

That's what I find the most interesting. Individually, the HHs are goofy, yes, but I see goofy stuff all the time. Check the Beats and Brags section for tons of examples.

But postflop aggression factor that goes 3/3/20+ is just nuts. No one plays (the river) that perfectly.

[de-coder]

I didn't read all the 2+2 thread, as I said I got most of the info from the FCP thread on the topic (as far as I know it's never been closed or modified by moderators). As for hands - I looked at a number of samples that were posted (including the ones you referenced and others), but 2 points:

1) I can look through my PT and find a bunch of weird calls and bad plays too (there's even a good sample in the hand discussion forum here)... That isn't really evidence. I did look at the 3 hands in the link you posted, but they don't prove anything other than none of these people play very well.
2) as I stated, I'm unable to verify whether these things are true or not.

My view is that there isn't enough actual, verifiable, evidence to prove whether AB was hacked or whether someone (or some group of people) have access to all the hole cards. Some people have chosen to cash out of AB, others haven't.

I don't, and haven't ever, played there. If you play there and this makes you uncomfortable, which is certainly a valid view, then stop.

This is the kind of thing that get all the conspiracy theorists worked up into a frenzy, particularly since 2+2 seemed to close the topic to the public for a short time (but that isn't evidence either).

FYI - I have sent an email to AB, with links to several threads, and have requested comment. I'm not holding my breath on that though, but it will be interesting to see how much traction this story needs before they are forced to respond. FWIW, I've been unable to find any reference to these fraud reports on their website - but I'll keep an eye out.